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Supreme Court Refuses to Hear RFK Jr.-Backed Group’s Censorship Case Against Meta

The refusal cements lower courts’ determinations that Meta independently enforced vaccine misinformation policies without government coercion

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, testifies at a House committee hearing on Capitol Hill on May 15, 2025.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies in Washington on May 14, 2025.
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Overview

  • The Supreme Court declined on June 30 to review Children’s Health Defense’s appeal of lower court dismissals
  • Children’s Health Defense argued Meta removed its anti-vaccine posts under pressure from the Biden administration in violation of its First Amendment rights
  • The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and other lower courts found no evidence that Meta acted as a state actor bound by constitutional free speech protections
  • Meta launched a misinformation crackdown in 2020 banning anti-vaccine ads and deplatformed the group’s Facebook and Instagram pages in 2022 for policy violations
  • The CDC’s “Vaccinate with Confidence” initiative partnered with social media platforms to promote accurate vaccine information, highlighting debates over private moderation and public health messaging